KT1 - The Treaty of Versailles Flashcards
What were the German losses in percentage?
- 10% of european land
- 12% of population
- 16% of all coal fields
- 50% of iron and steel industry
When was the Treaty of Versailles signed?
28th June 1919
Who was North Schleswig given to?
Denmark
What happened when Germany didn’t pay 1922’s £50 million installment?
- France invaded the Ruhr to take £50 million in coal iron and steel
- This was permitted by the Treaty of Versailles
What happened to the Rhineland in the Treaty of Versailles?
The Rhineland was de-militarized so that Germany could not hold troops there
What was Article 231?
- The war guilt clause
- Germany took the responsibility for all loss and damage suffered as a consequence of the war
How many men was Germany allowed in its army after the Treaty of Versailles?
100,000
How many battleships was Germany allowed in its army after the Treaty of Versailles?
6
How many submarines was Germany allowed in its army after the Treaty of Versailles?
0
How many aircraft was Germany allowed in its army after the Treaty of Versailles?
0
Who of the Big 3 wanted the harshest treaty and why in descending order
Harshest - Clemenceau: He wanted revenge for all of the damage suffered by France in terms of both death toll and money
Middle - Lloyd George: He wanted to punish Germany because of the money Britain lost in WW1 but also wanted Germany to remain engaging in trade with Britain.
Least Harsh - Wilson: The USA had not suffered any damage, in fact, the USA profited from WW1 because they sold arms.
What did Wilson have to compromise over in the Treaty of Versailles?
- Wilson gave way to Clemenceau about Germany’s Rhineland and coalfields in the Saar
Why was the Paris Peace Conference set up?
To sort out what would happen to the defeated powers after WW1
What did the Treaty of Versailles also set up and why?
- The League of Nations
- To enforce the Treaty of Versailles and prevent war
What were the main terms of the Treaty of Versailles?
- £6.6 billion
- Germany accepts blame
- Germany loses land, industry, population and colonies
- Germany must disarm
What were Lloyd George’s aims?
- To punish Germany but not too harshly
- Wanted Britain and Germany to be trading partners
- He wanted Germany to lose naval power and colonies
What were Lloyd George’s motives?
- Didn’t want Germant to seek revenge or have a communist revolution like in Russia if the treaty was too harsh
- But also wanted to please anti-German feelings in Britain
- Wanted jobs for British people
- Wanted to protect the British Empire
What were Clemenceau’s aims?
- To cripple Germany economically and territorially
- Ensure France’s borders were secure against future attack
- Demand Germany takes blame for starting the war and pays reparations
What were Clemenceau’s motives?
- For Germany not to be able to build up its armed forces again and threaten France which had been invaded twice before in 1870 and 1914
- French people had suffered huge casualties (1.4 million killed) and had lost farmland in north-east France
What were Wilson’s aims?
- To create a ‘fair and lasting peace’ in Europe by implementing his ‘14 Points’
- Which included disarmament for all European nations, no secret treaties and a League of Nations
What were Wilson’s motives?
- To remove the causes of conflict in Europe to prevent future wars
- Increase trade between Europe and the USA to prevent the spread of communism
- Strengthen democracy and self-determination to break up empires
Why did Lloyd George not get everything he wanted from the Treaty of Versailles?
- Lloyd George was influenced by public opinion in England
- Britain had suffered hugely in the First World War. Lloyd George had won the 1918 general election by promising to ‘make Germany pay’
What did Lloyd George not like about the outcome of the Treaty of Versailles?
- The fact that German-speaking people were now under the control of countries such as Poland and France - he thought this would lead to resentment and future conflict
Why did Clemenceau not get everything he wanted from the Treaty of Versailles?
- Clemenceau was influenced by public opinion in France
- The French public wanted a treaty that would severely punish Germany. Over 2/3 of the men who had served in the French army had been killed or injured
What did Clemenceau not like about the outcome of the Treaty of Versailles?
- He wanted the reparations to be higher and was concerned that Germany would recover its economic and military strength, especially as the Rhineland was only demilitarized and not given to France
- He was also concerned that the French people would not think that the treaty was harsh enough - this led to his defeat in the French presidential elections in 1920 and his resignation soon afterwards
Why did Wilson not get everything he wanted from the Treaty of Versailles?
- America had not suffered as much as Britain or France in the war and Wilson had a more generous attitude towards Germany
- This caused him to clash a lot with Lloyd George and Clemenceau
What did Wilson not like about the outcome of the Treaty of Versailles?
- France and Britain had increased the size of their overseas empires at the expense of Germany
- Britain had also increased into control of the seas by reducing Germany’s navy, which went against Wilson’s principle of free navigation of the seas
Why did the German people resent the terms of the Treaty of Versailles?
- They hated the war guilt clause and believed other countries were as much to blame as they were
- They felt the disarmament terms were too harsh since Germany took pride in its army and was now left defenceless
- Reparations and territorial losses were a major blow to the German economy
Why did Germans view the Treaty of Versailles as a ‘Diktat’?
Germany was not allowed to attend the peace conference and was forced to accept the terms of the Treaty or face occupation
How did the Treaty of Versailles cause destabilisation of the Weimar Government?
- Right-wing nationalists opposed the Treatyt and the Weimar Government by attempting many coups
- Anti-communist Freikorps in the Kapp Putsch managed to seize Berlin since the army refused to fire on them
- The Munich putsch in November 1923
- Spartacist uprising in 1919
How did the Treaty lead to economic instability in Germany?
- Germans claimed that the reparations were impossible to pay
- Germany paid its first instalment in 1921 but could not make the 1922 payment which resulted in France and Belgium occupying the Ruhr - Ebert orders German workers to go on strike (passive resistance) causing hyperinflation
How was the Treaty of Versailles justified at the time?
- Some journalists in Britain commented that Germany and its allies got off relatively lightly and would be able to afford the economic and territorial costs of the treaties
- Some in the USA saw the treaties as the only possible compromise that could be made between the allies after the War
Why did some believe that the treaties let off the defeated nations too easily?
- Many in France claimed that when Germany imposed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on Russia in 1918, its terms were harsher than those in the Versailles settlement
- Marshal Foch of the French army claimed Versailles was merely a 20 year ceasefire and did not protect France sufficiently from future invasion
Why did some believe that the treaties were unfair and too harsh?
- The defeated nations hated the war guilt clause as they believed other countries were to blame for starting the war as well
- In Britain, some politicians and journalists criticised the harshness of the Treaty of Versailles and claimed it would lead to a future war with Germany
